


Will You Be There

by asofthesea



Series: Just When You Thought You Had it All Figured Out [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Mentor/Protégé, Not Slash, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Revelations, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, i tried light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 00:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12829638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthesea/pseuds/asofthesea
Summary: “What is this?”May looks up at Peter. Peter has in his hands the one thing she promised Richard and Mary she would never tell him. The one thing that could ruin how well everything has been going.His birth certificate.Everything Peter thought he knew suddenly changes, and he doesn't know how he feels about that quite yet.





	Will You Be There

“What is this?”

May looks up at Peter. Peter has in his hands the one thing she promised Richard and Mary she would never tell him. The one thing that could ruin how well everything has been going.

His birth certificate.

May opens her mouth to explain but Peter speaks first, “Under mother it says Mary Parker, but under father it's blank, and there's a note. What the hell?”

May knew exactly what that note said, she had it memorized.

_ Peter, _

_ Honey if you're reading this then there is something you need to know. Your real father isn't Richard, but Tony Stark. I never told you because he isn't fit to be a parent. I want you to trust your judgment, but don't get too attached to him. He doesn't know and he doesn't ever need to know. It's all up to you. _

_ Love you, _

_ Mom _

Peter tilts his head and stares at the letter. He stammered out, “This is a joke right? This is just some cruel joke that Mr. Stark thought would be funny. This can't be real because if this is real then he's my dad and I can't-”

May cuts him off with a hug before he can finish his thought. She knows what he was going to say. He can't lose him, he can't lose another father.

 

\--

 

FRIDAY alerts him to an angry Peter Parker storming into the compound, on his way to the lab. Tony doesn't know what the kid would be angry about, hell Tony doesn't know if he's ever seen the kid angry. Upset sure, but not angry.

“I can't believe you!”

So it was something that he did? He couldn't think of anything he had done recently that would have made the teenager mad. He had even deactivated parts of the protocols that Peter got offended by.

“What did I do, kid?”

Peter freezes for a second before he keeps moving. He says, “I know that you did a lot of bad things when you were younger but I never thought you slept with a married woman!”

Tony eyebrows shot up. He had absolutely no idea where this was coming from. He said, “Peter, I've never slept with a married woman, not to my knowledge anyway. Why are you saying that I did?”

Peter looked confused now as he spoke, “Well I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure that you did.”

“What makes you pretty sure?”

“This.”

Peter hands Tony two pieces of paper. His birth certificate and a letter from Peter's mother.

Tony takes the papers and reads the letter. He looks back up to Peter, who is still fuming in front of him. Peter crosses his arms, waiting for Tony to say something. For once in his life, Tony doesn’t know what to say.

He cares deeply about Peter, but he definitely is not fit to be a father. He probably couldn’t even keep a fish alive let alone a teenager. He wouldn’t know how to deal with the mood swings and the nightmares and all of that teenage insecurity. He’s barely an adult himself, he doesn’t know what Peter expects of him. He needs to be very careful about how he approaches this.

First things first, calm Peter down.

“Listen, Peter, I know that you’re very confused right now, but we can talk through this. You need to just calm down so we can figure things out.”

This must just be some sick joke someone was playing on Peter. When he found out who, he was not going to be happy.

But what if it isn’t a joke? What if the note is real? There is still the possibility that Peter isn’t his son and Mary just thought it was. Now that he thinks about it though, he does remember a woman about 15 years ago in a red dress at some convention. She was a scientist, but she definitely did not have a ring on her finger. Tony had always checked, he didn’t want any mad husbands coming after him.

Peter sighs and says, “I’m sorry, I just, I didn’t know what to think so I guess I wasn’t. I still don’t know what to make of any of this, it’s all so, weird.”

Tony puts an arm around the boy and says, “It’s okay Peter, we’ll figure this out.”

 

\--

 

Tony and May were sitting on the couch waiting for FRIDAY to report back with the test results. Peter was pacing. They all agreed that they should know for sure before they change things. Tony thinks it over.

On one hand, he doesn’t want things to change. Everything with Peter had been going so well that he doesn’t want to risk jeopardizing it. Also, there is the fact that he would make a horrible father, and Peter deserves better than him.

On the other hand, he wants Peter to be his son. He wants to take him to museums and show him off to all of his friends. He wants to give him advice on dating and do all of the things his father never did with him. He wants to be a better father than his.

Peter keeps pacing. Tony wants to pace. He needs to let some of his energy out, but he doesn’t want Peter to know he’s nervous. He knows that Peter’s whole world may change, and he has to be strong. He can be insecure about things later, right now he needs to worry about Peter.

FRIDAY finally announces, “The test results came back positive. Congratulations, it appears that Peter is your son!” She sounds happy when she says it and Tony wonders if it is because she adores Peter.

Speaking of, the teen has now stopped pacing. Tony stands up and approaches him slowly. He asks, “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Peter just asks, “Does this mean that I’m going to live with you now?”

He sounds scared, so Tony responds, “No kiddo, I’m sure your aunt wants to still have you, right May?”

They both look over at May who is staring out the window. She shakes her head as if to bring herself out of a trance and says, “Yes Peter, I still want you.”

Peter lets out a sigh of relief and Tony tried not to be disappointed. Peter didn’t want to live with him. Of course Peter didn’t want to live with him, why would Peter want to leave his aunt? Kids needed stability and his aunt could provide that, Tony could not. Tony is the opposite of stability.

 

\--

 

They decided that Peter should visit Tony every other weekend. May had told him that Peter already saw him as a father, he barely had to do anything different. Things had been weird at first, but they slowly returned to normal. When Peter came over, they worked on projects together in the lab. He began to look forward to the weekends that Peter was coming over.

This weekend, however, was not one of those weekends.

“What’s got you down in the dumps?”

Tony rolls his eyes as pours his coffee, “I haven’t had my daily dose of caffeine yet.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Rhodey responds, “Try again.”

Tony doesn’t respond, he sips his coffee instead. He watches as Rhodey waits for an answer he isn’t going to get.

Rhodey says, “Oh.”

“Oh, what?”

“It’s the kid, isn’t it? You’re upset because he isn’t here, right?”

Tony scoffs and says, “I am not.”

“Tones, you sound like a two-year-old. I know you love spending time with the kid. Maybe you should talk to his aunt about having him come over more. You are his father, after all.”

Tony sighs and says, “What if he doesn’t want to spend more time with me?”

Rhodey rolls his eyes and says, “Have you seen the way that kid looks at you? Tony, he looks up to you, he wants to spend more time with you.”

“Are you sure?” Tony can’t help but allow his insecurities to shine through.

“Trust me on this one.”

Tony nods. He will.

 

\--

 

Peter is with Ned when May calls him. He puts a finger up to his friend and answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Peter, I was wondering what time you were planning on being home, there is something we need to discuss.”

Okay, weird. Peter says, “I don’t know, what do we need to talk about?”

“You’ll find out when you come home, now when will that be?”

“Right now,” Peter hated it when he didn’t know something, and right now, he wanted to know what May had to say. They exchange goodbyes and hang up.

Peter says, “I’m sorry Ned, but I have to go. May wants to talk about something.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, but I want to find out.”

Ned nods, “Okay, we’ll finish rebuilding the death star later.”

“Thanks Ned, I’ll see you later.”

Peter picks up his backpack and makes it home quickly. He enters their apartment to find May sitting on the couch. She motions for him to join him, which he does.

He remains silent as his aunt takes a deep breath. She says, “I talked with Tony.”

Oh no. Oh no. _ Oh no. _

He knew it. He was too clingy and he got annoyed. He had tried to not be a bother, but he screwed it up. Classic Peter Parker.

“He wants to spend more time with you.”

Okay, that had definitely not been what Peter was expecting.

“He does?”

May nodded and confirmed his doubts. He hadn’t been too clingy, he hadn’t screwed things up. That was a relief, he loved hanging out with Tony. He didn’t know that the man felt the same way.

May brings him out of his thoughts when she asks, “Is that okay with you?”

Peter smiles and says, “As long as it’s okay with you.”

“Of course it’s okay with me. I think it’s amazing that he’s in your life. I also think every time you come back from visiting him you are happier. I like seeing you happy, Peter.”

Peter lets out a sigh of relief and asks, “So what did you guys have in mind?”

 

\--

 

They had decided that in addition to every other weekend that Peter would stay the night on Wednesdays, since that was when May worked late. Peter also stayed with Tony whenever May had a late or night shift.

Today was a Wednesday, so Happy picked up Peter after school. Peter wanted to be able to hang out with Tony when he got there, so he worked on his homework in the car. He had most of it done anyway, he just had a few more assignments to finish.

He got it done easily, finishing right as they pulled up at the compound. Happy said, “Okay kid, get out I’ve got places to be.”

Peter smiled and said, “Thanks for the ride, Happy.”

He hopped out of the car and made his way to Tony’s suite. He originally had a room by Vision, but once they found out about Tony being Peter’s dad, Tony decided that Peter would have his own room in Tony’s suite.

Peter found Tony in the lab, working on an old car. He told Peter that today he was going to teach him how to change a tire. That seemed fruitless since Peter couldn’t drive yet nor did he think he would be doing much driving in New York. There was no way May would let him.

However, he didn’t honestly care what they did, he just loved spending time with Tony.

 

\--

 

After Tony had shown Peter how to change a tire, he noticed that the kid was starting to get tired.

“Why don’t you take a shower then we’ll eat supper?”

“Okay,” Peter replied. Tony figured he better start making supper. He recently learned that the kid had a Captain America-sized appetite.

He didn’t know how to make a lot of things, but he did know how to make lasagna. Peter loved lasagna, so he figured he would be pretty safe if he made it. Right as he was taking the lasagna out of the oven, Peter returned, freshly showered and smelling way better than before.

“Set the table, please,” Tony told Peter.

Peter did as requested and soon they were eating supper. Peter told Tony all about his day excitedly. Tony then talked about the new phone that Stark Industries was planning to come out with.

Tony watched with amusement as Peter went in for his fourth helping. He had long since stopped eating, but he didn’t want to rush Peter. If the kid was hungry, he wanted him to eat.

After five helpings Peter finally decided he was full. They cleaned up after supper and retreated into the living room to watch a movie. Peter picked out Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

They settled into a comfortable silence as the movie began to play. Tony put his arm on the back of the couch. Peter took that as an invitation to snuggle against Tony’s side. He smiled down at the kid and wrapped his arm around him.

Tony didn’t say anything as Peter fell asleep pressed into his side. He had things he could do, but he wasn’t going to wake Peter up so he could go do them. It was a school night. Instead he closed his eyes and fell asleep with Peter safe next to him.

If that was the best sleep he had in awhile, no one had to know.

**Author's Note:**

> So I am planning on doing this as a series, but don't expect anything for that anytime soon. I have a vague idea of what I want, but I wrote this in one night so I haven't had much time to plan.
> 
> Please tell me what you think! Thank you for reading!


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